The invention relates to a glass element, notably a glass block or tile, and also to a panel, wall, slab and the like constructed by using glass blocks of this type.
It is known to use colored or transparent or translucent glass blocks in the construction of walls, panels, slabs and the like. However, glass is fragile and cannot undergo any plastic deformation at room temperature. Walls are liable to undergo a certain degree of distortion in case of settling and the distortions thus transmitted to the glass block panel may develop accumulative stress such as to eventually break the glass blocks in relatively high proportions. It is therefore necessary to provide movement joints both vertically and horizontally between the main walls and the panels made of glass blocks. Under these conditions, the panel sizes are limited by possible distortions of the main walls and also by the difficulty of making said movement joints consisting essentially of a flexible mastic compound.
Furthermore, glass brick panels must have a good resistance to external forces and weather conditions. For this purpose, one or a plurality of wall-ties or irons, according to the block thickness, are interposed between each pair of adjacent vertical and horizontal rows of glass blocks. These wall-ties are embedded in the mortar constituting the joint between the glass blocks.